sensational comebacks

[fazza]

This forum is supposed to be about "bar billiards discussion" so let's try it. Can anyone else come up with anything like this?

(Most of this report also appears in the Eynsham results thread)


Steve Biggs came out of retirement after making his last appearance anywhere at Bournemouth March 2007. He was very rusty in the first game against Steve Mudcock but managed to sneak it, and then opened his 2nd leg with 10,000 and then another 4,000.

Un(bl.....dy)believable! You have to be a big natural talent to do that. He had made a 9,000 break in the first round in Bournemouth last year after not playing at all for several months. After I let him down in the 2nd round (when I failed to chase 17k from Steven Sheard) he put his cue away again. Got it out last night (after about 49 weeks) and (after I had explained the rules) he plays like this.

Puts us all who believe they have to practice to shame.

Could anyone else have done this? Don't think so!!


So can anyone else recall somebody not playing at all for a few months and getting a 9k break on his first attempt (especially on such a big stage like the British Open Pairs), then putting his cue away again for nearly a year and then getting a 10k break on his second match?

If so, he must be real class!!!

[Colemanator]

he still plays snooker?

[NigelS]

Well "retired" Jim Millward did alright in last years Jersey by reaching the final.

I don't know how much he played before last years tournament, but he plays no local league, or inter league games anymore.

[Mark James]

First of all, welcome back Pete, this forum has been the poorer for your absence.

As for the subject of this thread, may I put forward for consideration the legend that is Jim Millward who, since he retired from bar billiards in the summer of 2006, has reached not 1, but 2 World Championship finals!

[davejones]

This year I signed Chris Lucas in the Worthing league who hasn't played or picked up a cue for over ten years.
I had to play him three weeks ago and Chris got the break the first time and ended up with a respectable 4500 in the first game.
Although got in the highest scoring stakes but quite remarkable concidering the time Chris had been away from the game.

[Q]

I will add Ian Graves (ex Horsham league)
He used to play regular but gave up playing before I inherited the captaincy although he used to frequent our home pub most nights.
I signed Ian up every year just in case he decided to make a comeback.

One match night one of our players failed to turn up, so seeing Ian over at the bar I wandered over and said " I know you've given up playing but we're a player short, would you help us out?" OK say Ian can someone lend me a cue, he then checked a couple of cues out, chose which one he like best and proceeded to score over 6k, I think he led off with a 4 or 5k break.
That was his 1st game in about 6 to 8 months.

I called upon his services a couple more times in the following few seasons and he always produced stunning bar billiards.

[fazza]

chimp said:

he still plays snooker?

Yes, Steve still plays snooker and tenpin bowling. Whilst I agree with the wonderful achievements of the three times champ, I am sure he had had quite a few games practice leading up to the Jersey event each time. I am very impressed with the other instances given. It is a massive achievement to do this sort of thing without practice of any sort and, perhaps, a lesson for those who think they need buy a table for their home.

Before anyone points out that Steve bought a table a few years ago, it has been dismantled for about two years as he has bought so many vintage motorcycles that they are stored in the space once used for his table, right alongside Shaun Murphy's old snooker table.

[Colemanator]

fazza said:

It is a massive achievement to do this sort of thing without practice of any sort and, perhaps, a lesson for those who think they need buy a table for their home.

Practice makes perfect, or so they say. when I moved to Thrapston in 96 my game went tits up, I eventually bought my own table and went on to win two Northants county championships back to back.

[fazza]

;D I would like to answer this and it is tempting but I will bite my lip. ;D

[Chris_Sav]

Billie Edwards (Eddie Billiards)

A old friend and doubles partner of mine who stopped playing league bar billiards over twenty years ago.

Last year he was told he would not see this Christmas just gone with that terrible disease. Some new chemo has come along and he has been battling along.

He decided he would like to play league again and got a few golfing friends to form a team and enter our division 2 last September.

Despite all this and the continuing treatment, he won nine out of eleven singles and eighteen out of twenty two pairs games with partners who had not played league before.

He topped our Winter League division two rankings by a fair margin.

That IS sensational

Keep Battling Bill.

Sav.

All examples offered so far have been good ones.
I recall seeing Steve Biggs play in the Northants Opens back in the nineties. A very stylish player and a charming bloke too.

Three-times-Champ - well, what can I say ? Back-to-back W/C finals after his latest period of exile. and he had a seven-year absence of the game once before, I seem to recall.

Ian Graves. A phenomenon. He was a teammate of mine at the Windmill for a couple of years, and didn't like travelling away (was rarely ready when we called round for him) but could be relied on to turn in a solid performance at home. But I cannot recall too many other people who have scored 10,000 on their Interleague debut !
(This was at the Green Man, Horsted Keynes)

I would like to add one more to the list: Gail Woods. The sole female in a championship-winning side the Flying Scud. A catalogue of changes in her personal life led to her eventual departure from bar billiards circles, but she did return briefly to play one game for the Scud on 9th Nov 2004, having not picked up a cue for over a year. A break of 9460 and score of 13k would rate as a sensational comeback in most people's eyes.

[Colemanator]

fazza said:

;D I would like to answer this and it is tempting but I will bite my lip. ;D

I don't mean that it was a sensational comeback ::), my point was about having ones own table to practice on :-/

I too believe Three-Times-Champ is a legend, I couldn't reach a final with practise (in fact not many have) so to do it without playing league or anything else is quite remarkable.

Coelmanator - Me have a table too ;D I play on it without practise against my dad and I still beat him ;D ;D
Though I am scoring heavily on the Swan table at the moment averaging around 9-10k a match 8-)